Guild Wars 2

Hello, since I hit 80 I’m in the process of refining the build I use and I thought I’d come to you guys for help. Currently I am running this http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWhImIbpxzgjDAhHCwQCiCVUeMTM7A which is 30 Fire/10 Air/30 Arcane. I sort of have a soft spot for Arcane Blast, as it’s just that extra nudge of damage, though I do feel it is quite a bit weaker at 80 than it was leveling, but also Arcane Shield is probably my favorite defensive skill. I don’t feel Armor of Earth is that strong in PvE and I hate how you can’t cast in Mist Form. Beyond that our only usable elite is a glyph, and our best heal is, so it makes sense to at least get Quick Glyphs.

In general my goal is to try and be traditional mage, with damage being my focus, as who doesn’t like blowing things up? This is why I have the 30 in Fire, although I don’t particularly care over much for all in it. If I had to sac points anywhere it would be in Fire. With this build I am running Knights and Valkyrie’s gear to make up for the missing Toughness/Vit while still retaining power and crit. As for runes, mine are all a big mess right now since I don’t really know much about em.

Anyway any advice would be great, although I will say I want to stick with staff, as I don’t really feel like playing totally melee, and Scepter just didn’t click with me.

I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you need advice for. You gave us your build, which is fine, but you haven’t told us what you’re having difficulty with.

Please understand that GW2 is not WoW, where a simple script can scan your gear and optimize your build for you. There is no number game to play here; it’s about your play style.

If your crit chance is high enough to justify [Fire V], then it’s a good choice.
If you change attunements often, then [Arcane V] is a good choice.
If you use Glyphs for healing and elite, as you’ve said, then [Air III] is a good choice.

It’s all about play style. If someone liked to stick to fire attunement the whole game, I’d tell them to pick [Fire VI].

I’v played pretty much the same build while leveling and a bit at 80, since then i adapted it a bit. And as you, i had 10 to 20 points i wasn’t sure where i should put them. So here are a few thoughts i made myself when i was in a similar position:

Arcane Mastery (20% cooldown reduction on arcan spells) is nice, but what about Evasive Arcana? I tried it out and really liked it. Suddenly i began making offensive dodges :p Put a Lava Font on the enemy, dodge in for a free flame burst (including blast finisher with 3 stacks of might), use Arcane Wave for another 3 stacks of might and then use burning retreat to get out again. Maybe switch to earth and dodge in again, for more damage and another 3 might stacks (though you won’t have any energy left by then to dodge out again, if you want to do that).
If you are in a party you can dish out quite some healing with evasive arcana as well. Put down a rain of healing, dodge inside for an area heal, use Arcane Wave for another area heal, switch to earth for protection and dodge again for another area heal. Also works in small by putting down a geyser a bit in front of you, dodge into it and then fire arcane wave.

Try it out and see if you like it. You can change major traits any time outside of battle for free.

Personally i use Internal Fire (10% more damage when in fire attunement) over Burning Precision. Especially now where i hardly have any precision left and took up more condition damage (which is useful for staff as well, and when soloing i mostly use S/D now).

And eventually i gave up on the 10 points in air for 10 points in water. There i switch between Cleansing Wave (AoE condition removal on attuning to water) and Shard of Ice (3 stacks of vulnerability when using Arcane Spells (and sigils)). Sometimes i still use Glyph of Storms, but mostly i use Arcane Blast. Sometimes i use Mist Form instead. I don’t miss the glyph recharge that much, which surprised even myself. If you want to move some damage to survivability consider 10 points in earth or water instead of fire. Pyromancers Puissance seems more useful for S/D than with a staff. In a dungeon (where i always use a staff) i switch it out for Persisting Flames, because i can’t find anything more useful. So when using a staff i think those last 10 points in fire aren’t that good anyway.

Just to give you some ideas for build refinement, but in the end they all should work well, you have to find for yourself what you prefer.